Do you often feel drained but aren’t sure whether it may just be low motivation? Know that valid medical reasons could explain your low energy levels, and you needn’t blame yourself.
If you experience low energy levels on a regular basis, perhaps making you less productive at work and causing you to want to take naps in all your spare time, read on.
Dr. Christopher Riegel, our expert at The Riegel Center in Plano, Texas, here discusses how your body can malfunction and rob your cells, tissues, and organs of energy.
At the cellular level, mitochondria are the engines that power the cell by creating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that provides energy to cells throughout the body. As we grow older, the number of mitochondria in our bodies declines.
Poor oxygenation is one of the most common reasons you have fewer mitochondria (or mitochondria that don’t work well). A cell that doesn’t receive enough oxygen can’t produce enough ATP. That can happen due to breathing or blood flow issues (blood carries oxygen).
Vasoconstrictors, substances that narrow the veins, can cause poor blood flow as well. Common vasoconstrictors include nicotine and caffeine.
During sleep, your body should enter rest, digest, and repair mode. However, disruptions to your sleep, whether caused by sleep apnea or disrupted hormones, can significantly increase your risk of fatigue and chronic diseases.
Sleep apnea can disrupt oxygen flow, starving your cells and limiting the production of ATP. Hormones that are out of whack can make it difficult to fall asleep or make sleep less efficient at repairing your body.
Take cortisol, the stress hormone, for example. If the levels don’t go down during the hours you sleep, you may wake up frequently or simply don’t feel rested after a night of sleep because your body can’t fully relax.
Sometimes, as the body attacks infections, it mistakenly attacks the thyroid, causing a drop in thyroxine.
Thyroxine is a hormone that regulates your body’s metabolism, the set of processes that transform food into energy. When your thyroxine is low, your energy drops and heart rate slows, and you may experience weight gain or hair loss.
Fortunately, hormones can be rebalanced with lifestyle changes and/or bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
If you’re experiencing fatigue and aren’t sure why, call our office or request an appointment online today. We can put together a personalized treatment plan to have you feeling your best as soon as possible.
